The Shadow Sun - Official Trailer

Ossian Studios is proud to present The Shadow Sun official trailer, which gives the first exclusive peek at gameplay in this groundbreaking new iOS Western RPG.

Set in a brand new, dark fantasy world developed by Ossian Studios, The Shadow Sun combines everything the team has learned from previously working on the Dungeons & Dragons and Witcher franchises, and is produced by a former BioWare producer for the Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights games.

To all iOS RPG gamers - this is the deep, story-driven RPG you've been waiting for! For more details on The Shadow Sun, go to www.theshadowsun.com

Who in their right minds would develop such a game for iOS only? I mean, it's not like there is a lack of engines that tackle all platforms.
There is some extra effort involved for the interface and input, of course. But the biggest chunk is the core gameplay.

Plus, I somehow doubt the niche in iOS for actual RPGs like this is too big. But I might be wrong.

I just hope they do sell enough. Not that I could support them, I lack any Apple products.

DArtagnan

I have to agree with TheSHEEEP, I have this prejudice that if they want to sell games more complicated than Angry birds on a mobile platform, they should choose Android. All my friends who actually play RPG games use a PC, and have Android phones. The friends who think console shooters are the best thing that ever happened to gaming are the ones with iPhones…but maybe that's only the situation in Sweden?

DArtagnan

unless Apple is paying them to be 'iOS exclusive', it's stupid to make it so. If anything make it iOS/Android, as there are far more Android devices than iOS (and the difference gets bigger every day). Maybe when they started development iOS was king of the world, but that ceased to be the case about 2 years ago.

I know it is impossible for a 'Game X for iOS' thread to exist without attracting 'dur, ios r luzers, Android r future' type comments … but the business case of WHY every game, app, and accessory of any note continues to be either iOS-centric or at least iOS-first.

Originally Posted by wolfing
unless Apple is paying them to be 'iOS exclusive', it's stupid to make it so. If anything make it iOS/Android, as there are far more Android devices than iOS (and the difference gets bigger every day). Maybe when they started development iOS was king of the world, but that ceased to be the case about 2 years ago.

Unless they don't care about money, it is stupid to develop for Android

Here is the reality about Android:
- They might 'ship' 80% of devices, but they DO NOT have 80% install base. In fact, outside of China their actual install base of devices is much closer to parity than the blind 'market share' suggests.
- Why is that so? Android users have more 'device churn' (i.e. more replacements than new users), many more returns (again, a return replacement is a 'new sale' for Google), and so on.
- Despite higher 'market share', if you want to make money … you develop for iOS. iOS games are where the money is. Sure the numbers appear to be narrowing - but guess why? China - many 'freemium' games have mandated payments in China, some very high. In EU and US, Android users still don't pay. AND (more importantly) the situation is worse for tablets.
- What is worse than not making money through sales? Terrible ROI … in other words, not only do you make less in sales, development costs are much higher! There were estimates that the overall profitability of iOS vs. Android was 150x!

And, most of the comparisons citing so-called Android dominance is all about smartphones. When it comes to tablets, you have Samsung, Nexus and Kindle Fire. Kindle Fire doesn't support Google Play (although I am loving the new 7" HDX) so that is out - and it is the #1 seller in the US. Nexus keeps plodding along doing reasonably well - but there are significant issues of compatibility between devices. Samsung is the world leader, but their top sellers are, frankly, cheap crap that is equal to the $79 bargain store tablets … in other words, not capable of running challenging games.

Also, when you are developing a game you want controls to be responsive - and it has been proven again and again that even on 'superior' hardware Android lags iOS touch response considerably.

So the real answer would be 'dur, why would anyone with a small team bother with Android until later?'

….

Of course, then there is the larger issue of controls and the 'tablet gaming experience'. All those who believe that 'thumbs on glass' will ever equal 'mouse & keyboard' for providing an optimal experience for a 3rd person action game, speak now:

<chirp, chirp>

Exactly.

So the the question is whether it provides a satisfying gaming experience within the confines of being a tablet game. Personally I think it looks great, and Daggerford was my fave NWN module, and I also liked Mysteries of Westgate … so I am very much willing to believe that Ossian will deliver a worthwhile iOS RPG gaming experience.

But as D'Artagnan and I have discussed at length, those last four words drip heavy with context.